Nick Wagner is the cofounder and codirector of Team Initiation.
May 6, 2007 Fifth Sunday of Easter, C Core beliefs You can discuss one or more of these teachings of the church today. Use your powers of discernment to make your choice based on three criteria: What have the catechumens been asking about? What issues came up during the dismissal reflections? What, in your opinion, […]
Catechetical Session, Easter 5C
April 29, 2007 Fourth Sunday of Easter, C Core beliefs You can discuss one or more of these teachings of the church today. Use your powers of discernment to make your choice based on three criteria: What have the catechumens been asking about? What issues came up during the dismissal reflections? What, in your opinion,
Catechetical session, Easter 4C
Today there is a great silence over the earth, for the King sleeps. The earth has trembled and fallen still, for the Lord sleeps in his fleshly nature; in the netherworld he is arousing those who have slept for ages. God is dead in the flesh, and has shaken Sheol to its foundtions. —From an
Frank C. Senn writes about the mystagogical process for neophytes in the early church: During the week after Easter Day, the neophytes attended the liturgy daily, wearing their white robes, while the bishops instructed them in the mysteries (sacraments) they had just experienced. The faithful were also permitted to attend these sessions during the “week
How to do Mystagogy with the Neophytes in Easter
During the Triduum, the question arises about when to dismiss the Elect and the catechumens. (If you are engaged in a year-round process, you will likely have both.) If parish leaders understand the liturgical role that the unbaptized have in worship, it will be clear that the Elect and the catechumens are dismissed before the
When Do You Dismiss during Triduum?
A recurring question among catechumenate team members is, what do the catechumens need to know before they can be initiatated. And some are often doubtful the liturgy, which is the source of all catechesis, can in fact teach them what they need to know. Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
The Four Essential Doctrines the Liturgy Teaches
The most pastoral thing we can do for the catechumens is to “kindly dismiss” them, before the prayer of the faithful begins…. I have a friend, a good friend, who also happens to be a priest. He is dead sent against dismissing the catechumens from the liturgy before the general intercessions. Whenever he presides at
Is Your Dismissal Pastoral Enough?
Let’s suppose you want to honor the baptized by celebrating their reception into the Catholic Church at the first Sunday Eucharist after they are ready. How do you deal with the pastoral issue that they will feel like they are missing something in comparison with the Elect who will be baptized at the Great Easter
When should baptized candidates be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church? Paul Turner in When Other Christians become Catholic, says, “Whenever they are ready” (p. 161). The National Statues for the Catechumenate say, not “at the Easter Vigil lest there be any confusion of such baptized Christians with the candidates for baptism
Why Baptized Candidates Should Not be Received at the Easter Vigil
Are you getting ready to initiate the Elect in your parish at the Easter Vigil? Make sure they (and you) know what they are signing up for. In his book, The People’s Work, Frank Senn says: The purpose of proclaiming the word and celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper is to form a community of
